Why would the Parisian-born conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) give away free tickets to his classical music concerts to taxi drivers and convenience store clerks?

 

First, said 35-year-old maestro Olivier Ochanine, everyone deserves to listen to classical music, as it is neither highbrow nor something that requires a high level of education to appreciate.

 

Second, Ochanine wants to satisfy ordinary folk’s curiosity about the genre: “If I have a conversation with somebody, sometimes they ask what I do. Like the taxi driver, we were just having a nice chat. He found out that I am a musician, a conductor.”

 

When someone seems genuinely interested, chances are the conductor would pull out a ticket and give it to the lucky fellow. “It’s part of education. I want people to see that there’s nothing elitist about classical music. It’s for everyone.”

 

Many of those who enjoyed his free tickets, Ochanine said, reached out to him through social media. One said, “I’ve always wanted to see a PPO concert, hoping someday I can because it’s a little difficult for me to pay for it.”

 

“I don’t ask them how much they make to qualify. Not just clerks, but whoever else shows interest,” said Ochanine.

 

For this reason, the conductor is thankful for private individuals and businesses that lend their support to the PPO and other artists. “We can always use more support from the government and sponsors. There’s so much more this orchestra could give but with the budgetary deficiency, that’s just not possible,” he said.

 

Ochanine acknowledged specifically Rustan’s Department Store’s month-long campaign last month, dubbed “Rustan’s for the Arts,” that had artworks of both established and younger local artists exhibited in its stores.

 

Arts and culture advocacy

 

Rustan’s CEO Zenaida “Nedy” Tantoco sits on the board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), where the PPO performs regularly.

 

Rustan’s marketing head Dina Tantoco said this new arts and culture advocacy intends to make both more accessible to people, especially those already visiting their stores.

 

Tantoco said Rustan’s received a lot of positive feedback from visitors who enjoyed viewing the works of National Artist Arturo Luz (painting), Ramon Orlina (sculpture), Nemiranda (painting and sculpture), Fernando Sena (painting), Golda King (painting) and husband-and-wife team Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz (painting) of Salcedo Private View that were on display in branches in Metro Manila last month.

 

Tantoco said the move to bring local art closer to the store’s visitors seemed the next logical step. “It always goes back to our motto of ‘bringing the best of the world to the Philippines and bringing the best of the Philippines to the world.”

 

She also pointed out that art advocacy has roots in the store’s heritage. “I think people will still remember the old Gallerie Bleu started by Rustan’s founder Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco.”

 

Last month, Rustan’s arranged meet-and-greet events between the artists and store visitors.

 

“The artists were so willing to answer questions, have their pictures taken, express themselves,” she recalled.

 

Tantoco added, in the case of aunt Zenaida and the PPO, “she knows the orchestra members personally and attends their performances.”

 

Ochanine, in turn, expressed optimism that the PPO’s projects for the next 12 months would generate attention and “raise more awareness about this orchestra.”

 

The conductor was quick to clarify, however, that he does not hand out free tickets on a whim.

 

“The musicians work. And I find that people appreciate music more when they pay for it, when they realize what we do is not a hobby. It’s our lives, it’s a service and, in a sense, some kind of civic duty we engage our community with,” he explained.

 

“I avoid giving free tickets to people who can afford them because it’s a smack in the face of the musicians,” Ochanine stressed.

 

Ochanine was only 29 when he was chosen from a long line of candidates who auditioned for the key role in the PPO. The orchestra did not have a chief conductor for two years until Ochanine arrived in March 2010.

 

Widest mix of audiences

 

Over the years, Ochanine observed that Manila has the “widest mix of audiences I have met in my life. You go to Los Angeles and 90 percent of the audience is old.”

 

Ochanine noted that the PPO has subscribers “who are very old, and there are subscribers who are extremely young, college students, and more and more of the audience are getting younger.

 

These younger audience he credits to social networking, where messages about music and everything else are posted online.

 

Ochanine plans to leave the PPO next year. But before he does, he said his dream is to see more Filipinos coming to the CCP “because they are curious about something. We don’t have full houses, it’s very sad. We want seats filled. The energy that comes from the musicians is worth much more.”

 

Ochanine maintained that tickets to the PPO are not expensive. “They’re really cheap compared to other shows that happen in this building or anywhere else. Our most expensive tickets are like P1,200. It starts around P400, P500, maybe even less. And we don’t ask people to come here in suits,” the conductor noted.

 

With one more year to go, Ochanine said he is pushing the musicians to explore a wider repertoire “because you don’t grow an orchestra by playing the same thing over and over. You have to really challenge them to play Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring,’ Verdi’s ‘Requiem,’ and Bartok, things like that.”

 

The PPO chief conductor was in LA and had scores of Filipino friends when he heard about the search for a new PPO conductor.

 

Considering the Philippines as his next musical destination after various stints in the US was a no-brainer. “I go wherever I find a musical opportunity, because people are people and I knew a lot of Filipinos in LA, so I know the passion that Filipinos have for music,” he said.

 

With an undergraduate degree in Flute Performance, Ochanine later finished his master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at University of Southern California.

 

A member of the American Symphony League and the Conductor’s Guild of America, he also conducted for various US-based orchestras.